1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to data storage systems, and in particular, to storage control systems for tiered control of database storage and replication.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Production databases are oftentimes replicated to backup databases to protect valuable data. FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate storage systems 100 and 200 in the prior art whereby production databases 110 and 210 interface with applications via application interfaces 105 and 205 respectively. Production database 120 and 220 are replicated to backup databases 120 and 220 respectively.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, production database 110 and backup database 120 are both stored on an enterprise class storage system 130. Unfortunately, storing an entire backup database on the same type of storage system as the production database is very expensive and inefficient. Furthermore, replicating the entirety of a production database is very expensive and inefficient.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, production database 210 is stored on an enterprise class storage system 230, while backup database 220 is stored on a secondary storage system 240 having a lower quality than enterprise class storage system 230. Unfortunately, replicating entire production databases to lower quality storage systems detrimentally affects the ability to retrieve data from the backup databases when so desired. Additionally, the problem of replicating the entirety of a production database remains.